Obese women more prone breast cancer

London, Apr 17: Obese women are more likely to die of breast cancer, latest study suggests. Heavily overweight women have a higher risk of developing the disease, researchers said. Conducting a study on 3,000 women, it showed that breast cancer in obese women was more advanced when diagnosed, with lower survival rates and a higher chance of reoccurence after the treatment.

According to researchers, nearly 88 per cent of women who were not obese, survived more than five years compared with 83 per cent of obese women, the Daily Mail reported. In all 16 out of 100 obese cancer patients were killed by the disease, compared with 13 out of 100 women of healthier weight.

The Geneva Cancer Registry used data on 460 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, found obese women were 80 per cent more likely to have their cancer diagnosis made at a later stage than non-obese women.

The delay in finding small lumps was also due to the fact that some women were embarrassed about their size, which puts them off being examined.

It was believed that higher oestrogen levels in obese women's bodies might play a role in driving the growth of invasive tumours.